After brilliant victories in the first stage of the war, Ukraine must prepare for a longer and more difficult stage: the battle for Donbas. A broad offensive by the Russian forces has already begun; the defense of the long-suffering Mariupol is holding its last breath, where a handful of brave fighters of the Azov Regiment and the 36th Marine Brigade are holding back six enemy battalions in a double ring of siege. How long will these heroes last? How many civilians will find their graves under the rubble of the Azovstal plant and residential buildings, which the barbarians are aiming at with three-ton air bombs? It is scary to think what crimes the racists will reveal when Ukrainian soldiers break through the blockade of the city and liberate it...

For the Rashists, Mariupol is a crucial milestone on the way of the land corridor to the Crimea they occupied. And for Ukraine, it is a strategic port on the Sea of Azov, a strategic city in the south, and a home that will have to be rebuilt almost from scratch. This will be after the war, and now a great battle for Donbas is unfolding. The battle is no longer in urban areas, but on wide open fields, where tanks and artillery will clash, and it will be reinforced from the air by combat aircraft, helicopters, and armed drones.

According to experts, it is in this battle that the further fate of the parties will be decided. If Ukraine wins here too, it will deal such a blow to the enemy that it will hardly be able to continue the war; if Russia prevails, it can develop an offensive further into central Ukraine and again into Kyiv. There is no telling what awaits Ukraine then. Moreover: Russia's victory will mean the defeat of Western civilization.

That's why Ukraine's allies are so interested in its victory. On April 19, US President Joseph Biden held a video conference with European allies on expanding the supply of weapons to Ukraine. It's not just Stingers and Javelins anymore. "The Western effort is both extensive and expensive, as it involves as many as 30 countries, not all of them NATO members. Now we want to force countries that have Soviet-era tanks, artillery, and perhaps even fighter jets to provide them to Ukraine with the promise that the United States will replenish them with more modern Western-made weapons. The need is especially acute for standard 152-millimeter howitzers from the Soviet bloc, since NATO uses a different, 155-millimeter shell.

The United States has also agreed to provide several 155-millimeter howitzers along with 40,000 rounds of ammunition, in an effort to buy Soviet-standard ammunition from countries that use them, including countries outside Europe such as Afghanistan and even India, a longtime buyer of Russian weapons,” The New York Times notes.

These weapons, together with domestic weapons, in the brave hands of Ukrainian defenders, we hope, will force the Russian invasion to retreat. Especially since Russia was unable to gather as many troops as it planned for this battle. Many fighters refuse to go to die on foreign soil for unclear reasons. And economic sanctions are also doing their job. Russia can no longer produce tanks and missile defense systems because it lacks funding and imported parts.

The battle will be hard, exhausting, and costly. Ukraine must always see before it the future for which it is paying such a high price. Unlike the Russians, Ukrainians know well what they are fighting and dying for.

Nadiya Banchyk